DAVE CLARK: NFL must put officiating Under Review after Lions-Cowboys mess

Detroit Lions offensive lineman Taylor Decker catches the ball in the end zone during a two-point conversion play in the final seconds of the NFL regular season game against the Dallas Cowboys on Saturday, December 30, 2023. The referees called an illegal touching penalty on the play in a controversial call that led to the Cowboys winning, 20-19.

Amanda McCoy/Fort Worth Star-Telegram

That is my mea culpa before we continue.

After the bizarre finish in the Lions vs. Dallas Cowboys game on Saturday, it’s time for the NFL to offer up its mea culpa, too.

Football has an officiating problem that needs to be addressed next season, especially since the league stands to make so much money on its deals with sports betting companies.

It’s time for the NFL to clean up its act.

I won’t go through the litany of bad calls that Lions fans have endured over the years because that’s irrelevant.

I’m also not blind to the fact that the Lions offense failed to put enough points on the board Saturday by missing opportunities all night long. Or that there were other botched calls in this game that helped the Lions.

The game played out the way it did. It offered a surprising, exciting finish.

Let’s look at “the play,” however, that decided the game.

The Lions had just scored a touchdown with 24 seconds left in the game to pull within one point of the Cowboys at 20-19, and head coach Dan Campbell had elected to go for a two-point conversion to win the game without going to overtime.

It appears referee Brad Allen, who was curiously hurrying between plays even though the clock was stopped, confused offensive lineman Taylor Decker (number 68) with backup tackle Dan Skipper (70). All game, Skipper had been checking in. That was a ruse to set up the Decker play. That was the point. That’s why Allen needed to pay attention to what was happening on the field rather than mindlessly rushing through the final 30 seconds of the game.

We can see video of quarterback Jared Goff reminding Decker in the huddle to check in with Allen, and the big man leaving to do just that.

We can see video of Decker checking in with Allen, who also appears to nod affirmatively to Decker.

We can see video of Skipper nearby, but not engaging Allen.

Goff starts the two-point conversion, Decker breaks left into the end zone. Goff lofts a perfect ball to Decker, scoring the go-ahead points.

Then amazingly, Allen calls a foul. Allen announces that 68 was not an eligible receiver.

Campbell loses his mind on the sidelines.

Before the game, “Gamble Campbell” walked refs through that specific play, designating 68 as the eligible receiver. That’s common practice when the team believes it will employ a trick play. A Fox 2 Detroit report confirmed that Campbell discussed the play with refs, emphasizing 68 as the end zone target in the two-point conversion – not 70. After the play, you can see him pleading his case to Allen – “I told you. I told you.”

Allen was unpersuaded. Despite the fact that every scoring play is reviewed – no one scrutinized the check-in between Decker and Allen.

After the game, Allen told a pool reporter that Decker didn’t report (even though we can see him on video standing in front of Allen), and that Skipper, who never got close to Allen, did.

“That conversation is where (Skipper) reports to me, and I then go to the defensive team, and I say to them, ‘(Skipper) has reported as an eligible receiver,’ so they will be aware of who has reported and then I return to my position,” Allen said in the pool report. “That was the conversation with the defensive line.”

It’s clear that Allen was confusing Decker with Skipper.

With the game over and decided, all you have left is the arguing.

These games now have bigger repercussions than just who makes the playoffs.

A 6-to-3 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court threw open the door to sports betting. In 2018, justices agreed that a 1992 federal law that banned most states from having sports betting violated states’ rights. Since then, the league has officially partnered with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars Entertainment – all major betting sites that are providing the NFL with a major new revenue stream. Watch any football game or visit a news site and you are inundated with ads encouraging fans to bet their hard-earned dollars on football.

As long as you live in a state like Michigan that allows sports betting, you can bet on a game, on specific aspects of the game and on player performances. If the NFL is going to take cash from betting partnerships, it owes its fans – the people placing those bets – clean, well-officiated games. It should take some of that new revenue and finally hire full-time referees. Yes, today refs are still only part-time employees of the league.

Also, let’s make every play in the final two minutes reviewable. This you can bet on: Slowing down the final minutes of a game to make sure refs get the outcome of games right will result in fewer controversies and greater confidence from fans.

I don’t bet on sports. I don’t think you should, either.

But if you do, Saturday was another reminder that the NFL cares more about fining players and coaches who complain about bad officiating than it does about penalizing the refs who actually make those bad calls.

Just like Las Vegas, House NFL is always going to come out the winner.

It’s not just about who wins and who loses, however.

It’s about how they play the game – and accurate officiating has to be part of that equation today when so much fan money is on the line.